Bringing pets inside during Extreme Weather Conditions should be a no-brainer, but it obviously isn't. I see pets left outside in freezing temperatures, Animal Control Officers see it, Police Officers see it, residents see it, so why don't Elected Officials see it? And when it is brought to their attention? Blank stares, excuses, justifications and down right lies, immediately come pouring out.
So Council Meeting after Council Meeting requesting an Ordinance to combat what you see as abuse. Wasted time doing ridiculous research getting your P's & Q's in order for multiple presentations to Council. After all, you have to "prove your case" on just why a local Ordinance is needed to combat animal abuse in your town.
After several months of dealing with the local Council to get an Extreme Weather Ordinance adopted, you realize that it will take years to get similar Ordinances passed in every town in your state. It is at that moment, you realize the only option left is to dive in, completely engulf yourself, and go for the Adoption of a State Law.
Of course and then you realize... getting a State Law passed is not going to as "easy" as what you just deemed "hard work" with your local Council. And if you are anything like me, you find yourself in an even worse spot as now, you will have to meet with State Legislators that already aren't crazy about you because you've voiced your opinion once or twice too often.
You think about just quitting and being happy with the local Ordinance accomplishment but your gut and brain refuse to allow it. You see by now, you've realized just how sad your State's Animal Cruelty Statutes really are and it is mandatory for the sake of the pets, that you see this through.
So of course, one of the first things I did was write a Petition urging the NJ legislative Body to pass the "Extreme Weather Pet Protection Act" which you can find below if you are interested in signing it.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/...
Now the Petition process was somewhat of a pain in itself; not due to writing it, but instead due to promoting it. A Petition needs plenty of signatures to have any chance of actually being meaningful. And I found myself appreciative of having a great platform to publish the Petition but also somewhat buried in the middle of what could be considered, professional petition writers.
My first step was to send it to all email contacts and share it on the FB page I created for the local campaign. Definitely not many followers on the FB page as it was a fairly new page. I created it specifically to document what I was doing with my local Council in the hopes others would see the page and it would give them ideas and references to use to get similar Ordinances passed in their own towns.
My second step was to boost the post, get it out there and include the Petition link to my local State Representatives, all NJ Senators and all local newspapers. I quickly found out that newspapers could care less about Petitions that don't have many signatures, ugh!